72 episodes

The Backtable Innovation Podcast brings you the stories from physician entrepreneurs and founders who are helping to drive healthcare forward through med tech innovation. Listen on BackTable.com or on the streaming platform of your choice. You can also visit www.BackTable.com to browse our open access, physician-catered knowledge center.

BackTable Innovation BackTable

    • Health & Fitness
    • 5.0 • 4 Ratings

The Backtable Innovation Podcast brings you the stories from physician entrepreneurs and founders who are helping to drive healthcare forward through med tech innovation. Listen on BackTable.com or on the streaming platform of your choice. You can also visit www.BackTable.com to browse our open access, physician-catered knowledge center.

    Ep. 72 Solving for Stent Adjacent Stenosis: The Auxetics Story with Dr. Ramsey Al-Hakim

    Ep. 72 Solving for Stent Adjacent Stenosis: The Auxetics Story with Dr. Ramsey Al-Hakim

    In this episode of the BackTable Podcast, host Dr. Aaron Fritts interviews guest Dr. Ramsey Al-Hakim about the inception and journey of Auxetics, a med-tech company innovating in the vein stent market. Dr. Al-Hakim is the co-founder of Auxetics and the Section Chief of the Division of Interventional Radiology at Scripps Hospital in San Diego, CA.

    Dr. Al-Hakim covers the initial challenges of understanding the market and securing capital, the clinical significance of addressing stent-adjacent stenosis, and the process of developing a stent with a negative Poisson effect to counteract it. Dr. Al-Hakim highlights Auxetics' approach to combining cutting-edge interventional technologies with world-class imaging tools for enhanced procedural efficiency in venous interventions. The company’s progress through benchtop work, animal testing, and plans for first-in-human studies outside the U.S., aiming for commercialization within the next four to five years, is also outlined. Contributions from key figures in the vascular community and the role of mentorship and perseverance in navigating the complexities of medical device innovation are discussed as well.

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    CHECK OUT OUR SPONSORS

    Varian, a Siemens Healthineers company
    https://www.siemens-healthineers.com/

    Reflow Medical
    https://www.reflowmedical.com/

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    SHOW NOTES

    00:00 - Introduction
    03:11 - The Market and Problem Solving
    12:13 - Journey of Creating a Stent
    22:28 - Birth of Auxetics
    26:53 - Learning Process and Support from the University
    29:16 - Building the Dream Team
    33:01 - Starting a Company
    36:42 - Challenges and Triumphs of Fundraising
    37:44 - Current Status and Future Plans
    45:32 - Importance of Community and Mentorship

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    RESOURCES

    Auxetics:
    https://www.auxeticsinc.com

    In-stent restenosis and stent compression following stenting for chronic iliofemoral venous obstruction:
    https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/34174500/

    Venous Stenosis Animal Model Utilizing Endovenous Radiofrequency Ablation:
    https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/30717966/

    The Messy Middle: Finding Your Way Through the Hardest and Most Crucial Part of Any Bold Venture:
    https://www.amazon.com/Messy-Middle-Finding-Through-Hardest/dp/0735218072

    • 52 min
    Ep. 71 Next Level Electroporation Therapy: The RadioClash Story with Dr. John Qiao

    Ep. 71 Next Level Electroporation Therapy: The RadioClash Story with Dr. John Qiao

    In this episode of the BackTable Podcast, host Dr. Aaron Fritts interviews guest Dr. John Qiao about exploration of physicians’ role in medical innovation, particularly among interventional radiologists.

    Dr. Qiao shares insightful information about the origin of RadioClash and details his journey as an entrepreneur. Through this discussion, Dr. Qiao covers the challenges encountered during the startup phase, the invention of a single-probe electroporation device, and the future applications of this novel medical technology. The episode concludes with broader advice on how to manage the demands of professional work, entrepreneurship, and personal life.

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    SHOW NOTES

    00:00 - Introduction
    02:39 - Dr. Qiao’s Journey into Medicine and Entrepreneurship
    11:40 - Birth of Radioclash: A Unique Solution for Cancer Treatment
    17:58 - Future of RadioClash: Targeting Metastatic Cancer
    25:20 - Future of Electroporation Therapy
    35:21 - Challenges of Building a Company
    44:37 - Path to Market and Future Plans
    47:28 - Balancing Clinical Practice and Entrepreneurship

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    RESOURCES

    RadioClash website:
    https://www.radioclash.co/

    News Article on Dr. John Qiao:
    https://voyagehouston.com/interview/meet-john-qiao-m-d-of-radioclash-ltd-co/

    Radiation Therapy as a Modality to Create Abscopal Effects: Current and Future Practices:
    https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7086111/

    The Abscopal Effect: A Reemerging Field of Interest:
    https://ascopost.com/issues/november-25-2018/the-abscopal-effect-a-reemerging-field-of-interest/

    BackTable VI Episode #402 - Immunotherapy in HCC: Evolving Treatment Paradigms:
    https://www.backtable.com/shows/vi/podcasts/402/immunotherapy-in-hcc-evolving-treatment-paradigms

    Tavo and Pembrolizumab in Patients With Stage III/​IV Melanoma Progressing on Either Pembrolizumab or Nivolumab Treatment (Keynote-695):
    https://clinicaltrials.gov/study/NCT03132675

    PANFIRE-3 Trial: Assessing Safety and Efficacy of Irreversible Electroporation (IRE) + Nivolumab + CpG for Metastatic Pancreatic Cancer:
    https://classic.clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT04612530

    Radiofrequency Ablation for the Palliative Treatment of Bone Metastases: Outcomes from the Multicenter OsteoCool Tumor Ablation Post-Market Study (OPuS One Study) in 100 Patients:
    https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33129427/

    The improvement of irreversible electroporation therapy using saline-irrigated electrodes: a theoretical study (Northwestern study):
    https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/21728392/

    Irreversible electroporation reverses resistance to immune checkpoint blockade in pancreatic cancer:
    https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-019-08782-1

    • 50 min
    Ep. 70 Innovations on the Backtable: The Wire Watch Story with Dr. Patrick Neville

    Ep. 70 Innovations on the Backtable: The Wire Watch Story with Dr. Patrick Neville

    In this episode, Dr. Aaron Fritts interviews Dr. Patrick Neville, a vascular surgeon and entrepreneur. Dr. Neville shares his journey of identifying a clinical problem and developing a solution, which culminated in the innovation of Wire Watch, a tool designed for efficient wire management during endovascular cases.

    Dr. Neville discusses the importance of believing in your solutions, the need for persistence, and the value of strategic partnerships in navigating the startup process. His partnership with the engineering firm BioTex led to the development of a simple product that is now used in cases by interventionalists across multiple specialties.

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    SHOW NOTES

    00:00 - Introduction
    02:12 - Recognizing the Importance of Wire Management
    06:42 - Partnership in Product Development
    09:14 - Wire Watch in Action: User Experience
    16:15 - Cost Savings and Clinical Adoption
    22:44 - Mindset for Approaching Device Innovation

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    RESOURCES

    Wire Watch:
    https://www.biotexmedical.com/wirewatch/

    BioTex Medical:
    https://www.biotexmedical.com/

    • 29 min
    Ep. 69 Biodegradable Flow Diverters for Cerebral Aneurysms with Dr. Alim Mitha

    Ep. 69 Biodegradable Flow Diverters for Cerebral Aneurysms with Dr. Alim Mitha

    In this episode of the Back Table Innovation Podcast, host Dr. Diana Velazquez-Pimentel, a radiologist and biomedical engineer, chats with Dr. Alim Mitha about the novel idea of biodegradable flow diverters and the future of interventional neuroradiology. Dr. Mitha is a cerebrovascular, endovascular, and skull base neurosurgeon and biomedical engineer at the University of Calgary.

    During his neurosurgery residency, Dr. Mitha also completed a master’s degree in biomedical engineering. Afterwards, he pursued additional fellowships in cerebrovascular and skull base surgery, as well as endovascular neurosurgery. Since then, he has started a research lab focused on tissue engineering and biomedical device development. He explains the role of flow diverters and how they are used to guide blood flow away from the intracranial aneurysms.

    While flow diverters have been applied to treatment of many different types of aneurysms, Dr. Mitha notes that these devices carry thrombogenic risks. During his training, he saw that it was not preferable to deploy a flow diverter in a young patient who would have to remain on antiplatelet therapy for the rest of their life. As a result, Dr. Mitha began to develop a polymer-based biodegradable flow diverter that could be absorbed by the body after the aneurysm had been occluded, in addition to being visible on non-invasive imaging. He explains the process of building a prototype, incorporating a company, joining a start-up incubator, and now performing first in-human-clinical trials.

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    CHECK OUT OUR SPONSOR

    RADPAD® Radiation Protection
    https://www.radpad.com/

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    SHOW NOTES

    00:00 Introduction
    03:05 Understanding the Role of Flow Diverters
    08:17 The Conception of a Biodegradable Flow Diverter
    11:35 The Challenges and Successes in Prototyping
    13:53 A Path Towards Commercialization
    16:10 Considerations for Clinical Adoption
    24:00 Developing Skills for Engineering and Entrepreneurship
    27:29 First-In-Human Trials and Early Feedback
    30:36 Innovating Within the University of Calgary

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    RESOURCES

    University of Calgary Creative Destruction Lab:
    https://creativedestructionlab.com/locations/calgary/

    The Brain Conferences:
    https://www.fens.org/meetings/the-brain-conferences

    • 37 min
    Ep. 68 Transforming Radiology with Workflow Solutions with Dr. Woojin Kim

    Ep. 68 Transforming Radiology with Workflow Solutions with Dr. Woojin Kim

    In this episode, interventional radiologist Dr. Bryan Hartley interviews Dr. Woojin Kim, a musculoskeletal radiologist and serial entrepreneur. Dr. Kim is a musculoskeletal (MSK) radiologist with a background in imaging informatics and a founder of three companies. He outlines his journey, from his early life as an immigrant in the US to his entrepreneurial successes in the field of radiology.

    Dr. Kim shares the processes, challenges, and lessons learned from founding and exiting three different startups. As an MSK fellow, he developed Yottalook, a search engine for radiology images, which eventually became his first company, iVirtual. After a brief time working in private practice, he returned to academia and co-founded his second company, Montage, a radiology search and data mining tool that offers clinical and operational analytics. Later on, he entered the artificial intelligence (AI) space and co-founded Equium, an application for radiology resource and staffing optimization. In recent years, Dr. Kim has shifted his focus to non-interpretive AI, a field that is centered around streamlining the radiologist’s workflow and improving work-life balance.

    Throughout the episode, Dr. Kim shares advice for other entrepreneurs. He highlights the importance of building companies with good co-founders whose skills and experiences complement each other. He also encourages listeners to look at other industries and network to gain ideas about how to improve their own fields. Finally, he emphasizes that companies that are looking to be acquired should demonstrate adequate knowledge over return on investment, total cost of ownership, and regulatory requirements.

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    SHOW NOTES

    00:00 - Introduction
    01:35 - Dr. Woojin Kim’s Medical Training
    05:11 - Developing an Interest in Informatics
    11:04 - Creating Yottalook and iVirtuoso
    17:00 - Building Montage Healthcare Solutions
    24:45 - Acquisition of Montage and Working for Nuance
    27:33 - Leveraging AI for Resource Optimization
    32:58 - Rad AI and the Impact of Noninterpretive AI
    41:24 - Advice for Aspiring Entrepreneurs

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    RESOURCES

    Rad AI:
    https://www.radai.com/

    Equium:
    https://www.equium.io/

    Nuance:
    https://www.nuance.com/index.html

    • 50 min
    Ep. 67 Innovating Recognition in Healthcare with nDorse with Dr. Rohan Walvekar

    Ep. 67 Innovating Recognition in Healthcare with nDorse with Dr. Rohan Walvekar

    In this episode of Back Table ENT, host Dr. Gopi Shah explores the entrepreneurial journey of Dr. Rohan Walvekar, an otolaryngologist at Louisiana State University-New Orleans and innovator/CEO of nDorse, a team engagement software application.

    Dr. Walvekar shares his experience in launching ‘nDorse’ — his novel team engagement software designed for healthcare providers. This idea was sparked from his realization that daily contributions and positivity within the healthcare space could be better recognized with real time feedback. He noticed that hospital nursing turnover was high, which could have been attributed to insufficient engagement and connection with coworkers.

    The nDorse software application can be used by anyone in an organization and allows users to post meaningful recognitions (via messages, emojis, pictures, GIFs) for their coworkers, with the ability to tag recognitions to the organization’s specific mission and values. Since its implementation, nDorse has been adopted even in various educational and financial institutional settings. Dr. Walvekar describes his journey to creating the application, including the software building process, initial sales, mentors, and the nDorse team. He also offers advice for physician entrepreneurs about being thoughtful with innovation and resilience in the startup sphere.

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    SHOW NOTES

    00:00 Introduction to the Podcast
    02:46 A Focus on Real Time Recognition for Coworkers
    04:48 Introduction to nDorse: A Team Engagement Software
    13:06 Market Research and a Minimum Viable Product
    20:16 Product Launch and First Customers
    23:04 Financing the Project
    26:03 Pitching to New Clients
    29:00 Team Members and Mentors
    31:44 Balancing Innovation with Clinical Practice
    36:20 Challenges During the Entrepreneurship Journey

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    RESOURCES

    nDorse:
    https://www.ndorse.net/

    BackTable ENT Ep. 115- Management of the Plunging Ranula:
    https://www.backtable.com/shows/ent/podcasts/115/management-of-the-plunging-ranula

    Healthcare Plus Solutions Group:
    https://healthcareplussg.com/

    • 41 min

Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5
4 Ratings

4 Ratings

Bret N . Wiechmann ,

Innovation

Gotta love the Julio Palmaz story!!!

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